Raw recipe: walnut loaf with creamy coffee frosting

raw walnut loaf with coffee frosting

When I posted a variation of my ‘Come on, Dover!’ superfood smoothie recipe to the Inspired by Jason Vale Facebook Group a couple of weeks ago, one of my friends there – Sabina – asked what else these superfoods could be used in. I promised to come up with a couple of recipes, and this is the first of them.

“Sabina cake mark 1,” as I’ve been calling it, is a moist, crumbly raw walnut loaf with a rich, creamy frosting that can be optionally flavoured with coffee (or another good quality flavouring of your choice). If you don’t have the superfoods (baobab, camu-camu powder and purple corn extract) and don’t want to buy them, simply leave them out – they don’t really affect the flavour of the cake, they’re just there for their nutritional value.

The frosting is actually a slightly modified version of the frosting Russell James uses in his carrot and orange cake recipe (which is a wonderful cake, by the way – highly recommended).

You don’t need a dehydrator for this recipe, but there are a couple of other pieces of equipment you’ll need – namely, a nut milk bag, a blender, and some accurate measuring cups and spoons (I have several sets of measuring cups and spoons, in different colours and materials – many raw recipes are measured by the cup, rather than by weight, so they’re handy things to have).

The cashews and almonds (but not the walnuts) will need soaking before use (times given below).

A by-product of this recipe is the pint of almond milk you’ll be left with after making the almond pulp. Put this in the fridge for a few hours then blend with some cacao and your favourite healthy sweetener for a delicious, healthy, chocolate shake (or if you’re not into chocolate, use raspberries or strawberries – yum!)

For the almond pulp/milk

Place all the ingredients in your blender, and blend until the almonds have turned into the tiniest crumbs possible. Place your nut milk bag into a suitable jug, securing the elasticated neck over the top of the jug. Pour the milk from the blender into the bag, carefully lift the bag up from its neck, and gently squeeze. The aim is to end up with a pulp that’s as dry as you can get it by squeezing alone, so plenty of patience and some firmer squeezing will be needed – but don’t squeeze so hard that the seams of the bag burst! Place the barely-damp pulp into a large mixing bowl, ready for starting the cake part of the recipe. Refrigerate the milk for future use (lasts a few days in the fridge).

For the cake

Almond pulp as described above

1 cup of very finely grated parsnip (don’t drain off any juice that accumulates – it helps make the cake moist)

Place all the ingredients except the walnuts and sultanas into a large mixing bowl. Using your hands, mix everything together. Use your fingers to rub the mixture together, to form a breadcrumb/crumble-like consistency.

Add the crushed walnuts (you can just crush them between your fingers as you put them into the bowl) and the sultanas. Mix through thoroughly.

To assemble

Line a loaf tin with cling film. Press half the cake mixture into the lined tin, gently but firmly (you want the cake to have a fairly loose consistency, but at the same time you don’t want it to turn into crumbs when you turn it out of the tin).

Use half the frosting mixture to form a layer on top of the bottom layer of cake, then add the remainder of the cake mixture and press in as before.

Tun the tin upside down on a plate or board and carefully lift it, leaving behind the cling film-covered cake. Remove the cling film.

Into the remaining frosting, add your coffee essence or other preferred flavouring (if using) and mix well. Spread the frosting onto the top of the cake and pop into the fridge for an hour or so to firm up.

Final step: stuff your face!

I made this last night and had a slice for breakfast this morning. It’s very filling and VERY tasty! Sweet enough but not sickly sweet – perfect!

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